Sceletium - Kougoed - Kanna - A natural mood elevator

Sceletium
tortuosum is a small groundcover plant native to Southern Africa.
For hundreds of years the Hottentots of Southern Africa used Sceletium
tortuosum as a mood enhancer, relaxant and empathogen. It is also
known as Kanna or Kauwgoed, Kougoed and Canna.

Historically Sceletium tortuosum (Kanna)
was chewed, smoked or used as snuff producing euphoria and alertness
which gently fade into relaxation. If chewed in sufficient quantity
Sceletium has a mild aneasthetic effect in the mouth, much
like kava, and is used by the San tribes if you are about to have
a tooth extracted, or in minute doses, for children with colic.
A tea made from Sceletium/Kanna is sometimes used to wean alcoholics
off alcohol.

History of Kanna

Sceletium
tortuosum has a long history of use in South African. In fact it
is in it's 4th century of recorded use there. With written records
dating back to 1662, Sceletium was a bartering currency. Traditionally,
the prepared dried plant material (called Kanna or Kougoed) was
chewed and the saliva swallowed, but it has also been made into
teas and tinctures. Less commonly, it has been reported that it
used to be inhaled as a snuff, or smoked, usually with the addition
of other herbs.

Kanna was used in rural areas in very small doses
as a treatment for colic in infants, added to a teaspoon
of breast milk, and this use still survives in some local communities.

Chemistry and Pharmacology of Kanna

The mood-elevating action of sceletium is caused
by a number of alkaloids including mesembrine, mesembrenol and tortuosamine
which interact with the brain's dopamine and serotonin receptors.
Mesembrine is a major alkaloid present in Sceletium. Mesembrine
has been demonstrated to be a potent serotonin-uptake inhibitoand
serotonin releasing agent.

This receptor-specific activity, and receptor activities
also found on nicotinic, dopamine and nor-adrenaline sites certainly
validate the traditional mood-elevating uses, and suggest additional
therapeutic and wellness potential.

By isolating this and other bio-chemically active
compounds, researchers are now confirming what many people have
known for many hundreds of years, that Sceletium has a remarkable
ability to effectively treat symptoms of anxiety.

Mesembrine is an alkaloid which is derived from the Sceletium Tortuosum
plant and is now being acknowledged as a key active component in
the ability of the plant to produce beneficial effects which are
closely related to it are the alkaloids mesembrenone, mesembrenol
and tortuosamine, which are also present and produce very similar
effects to mesembrine.

Fermenting Kanna increases mesembrenone and decreases mesembrine.

It is a confirmed serotonin (re)-uptake inhibitor, as understood
by the US Patent office, which means that it regulates the effects
of one of the brain's most important neurotransmitters.

Benefits and
Uses of Kanna

Tablets and capsules of Sceletium / Kanna are being
used successfully by a number of psychiatrists, psychologists and
doctors with excellent results for anxiety states and mild to moderate
depression; and they can also be used by the lay public as supplements
to elevate mood and for stress and tension.

In addition to Sceletium's common use for the stress
and mental fatigue of modern industrial living, Sceletium has been
used as a natural supplement in:

uplifts the mood

decrease anxiety, stress and tension

gives you energy

Sceletium elevates mood and decreases
anxiety, stress and tension. Kanna has also been
used as an appetite suppressant by shepherds walking long distances
in arid areas. In intoxicating doses it can cause euphoria, initially
with stimulation and later with sedation. Long-term use in the local
context followed by abstinence has not been reported to result in
a withdrawal state. Kanna is not hallucinogenic, and no severe adverse
effects have been documented.

Sceletium is also being used as a natural anti-depressant
that is said to be safer than many pharmaceutical alternatives.

Individuals suffering from depression and anxiety
can benefit from Sceletium.

Mesembrine works thus:

The brain is made up of countless neurons, which
transmit signals to each other only by jumping the gap
(synapse) to neighboring neurons. The signal cannot however jump
the synapse without assistance.

The message can only travel when the neuron releases
a neurotransmitter to fill this gap and allow the signal to transient
via it.

The receiving neuron has many points on its surface
that which act as potential locks, each of which is known as a
receptor and is effected by a particular type of neurotransmitter.
When sufficient amounts of the neurotransmitter are received by
the relevant receptor, a nerve impulse is started and the message
continues to its ultimate destination. To permit recovery of the
neuron to receive new messages, the brain takes away the neurotransmitter
from the neuron receptors and permitting it to be sent back to
the originating nerves, a process known as re-uptake.

In individuals suffering from depression, the
neurotransmitter serotonin (also known as 5-hydroxytryptamine)
is lacking. Mesembrine slows down the re-uptake process, making
it more probable there will be more serotonin in the relevant
receptors, greatly increasing the possibility that there will
be sufficient levels to set up the signal transfer in all neighboring
neurons.

Mesembrine allows the brain to function with
reduced levels of serotonin, allowing time for natural levels
to build up, whereupon the mesembrine dosage can be reduced or
eliminated.

Doses of Kanna

A typical dose is between 50mg and 100mg once
or twice day, usually taken after breakfast and after lunch. Less
commonly this can be increased to 100mg twice a day, if necessary.
In drug rehabilitation programs, under a physicians or psychiatrists
supervision, the dose needed may be as high as 200mg twice a day.

Side Effects of Kanna

Very few people experience side-effects. The reported
side-effects include occasional episodes of:

Mild headache

Slight nausea, no vomiting

Soft stool or loose stool with no cramping

Transient increase in anxiety or irritability an hour after
initiating
treatment, which resolves after an hour or so

Insomnia: corrected by lowering the dose or taking the product
not later than midday

A feeling of sedation: corrected by taking the product as
a single 50mg dose at night

NO severe adverse effects have been documented
from using Kanna.

Contraindications

There have been no confirmed reports of drug interactions,
However, because of the neuro-receptor activities of Sceletium there
may be interactions with other pharmacokinetic drugs. People taking
any psychiatric drug (including all anti-anxiety drugs, sedatives,
hypnotics, antidepressants and anti-psychotics and so-called designer
or recreational drugs) or any cardiac medications, are advised not
to take Sceletium-containing products.

As with most supplements and modern drugs, safety
in pregnancy for Kanna has not been established.

Sceletium is used to rebalance the brain and nervous
system and thereby relieve symptoms of depression. Combined with
other well known herbs, this formulation has been proven to be extremely
effective and safe.

Twenty species from nine genera of the Mesembryanthemaceae
(Aptenia, Bergeranthus, Delosperma, Drosanthemum, Glottiphyllum,
Lampranthus, Oscularia, Ruschia, and Sceletium) as well as the
reportedly psychoactive preparation `kougoed', prepared from `fermenting'
Sceletium tortuosum, were screened for the presence of the mesembrine
alkaloids. Using gas chromatography (GC) with a nitrogen-phosphorous
detector (NPD) three putative alkaloids were detected in Sceletium
tortuosum whose mass spectra corresponded to those of 4'-O-demethylmesembrenol,
mesembrine and mesembrenone. All the Mesembryanthemaceae plants
investigated were shown to have Dragendorff-positive compounds
on thin layer chromatograms (TLC); those containing mesembrine
alkloids, as shown by later GC MS analysis, exhibited similar
Rf values to the Sceletium alkaloids. Howev! er, using the technique
employed in this study which encompassed the use of column and
gas chromatography, the only genus containing mesembrine alkaloids
to any significant extent was Aptenia. Alkaloid levels were found
to be extremely low in all other taxa investigated. When a `modern'
technique for the preparation of a fermented Sceletium product,
`kougoed', was carried out it was found that levels, as well as
the ratios, of the three alkaloids changed markedly. Substantial
increases in total alkaloid levels were observed when the Sceletium
material was crushed and bruised prior to drying for alkaloid
extraction whereas no such changes occured when intact plants
were oven dried at 80°C prior to alkaloid extraction. It is
speculated that of the many potentially usable Mesembryanthemaceae
plants available to the indigenous peoples, Sceletium was selected
because it is the only genus with alkaloid levels high enough
to! eli cit a psychoactive response. The traditional preparation
technique also appears to have evolved as a method of producing
a dry, stable, and relatively palatable preparation of increased
pharmacological activity.

ABSTRACT
Twenty species from nine genera of the Mesembryanthemaceae (Aptenia,
Bergeranthus, Delosperma, Drosanthemum, Glottiphyllum, Lampranthus,
Oscularia, Ruschia, and Sceletium) as well as the reportedly psychoactive
preparation `kougoed', prepared from `fermenting' Sceletium tortuosum,
were screened for the presence of the mesembrine alkaloids. Using
gas chromatography (GC) with a nitrogen-phosphorous detector (NPD)
three putative alkaloids were detected in Sceletium tortuosum
whose mass spectra corresponded to those of 4'-O-demethylmesembrenol,
mesembrine and mesembrenone. All the Mesembryanthemaceae plants
investigated were shown to have Dragendorff-positive compounds
on thin layer chromatograms (TLC); those containing mesembrine
alkloids, as shown by later GC MS analysis, exhibited similar
Rf values to the Sceletium alkaloids. Howev! er, using the technique
employed in this study which encompassed the use of column and
gas chromatography, the only genus containing mesembrine alkaloids
to any significant extent was Aptenia. Alkaloid levels were found
to be extremely low in all other taxa investigated. When a `modern'
technique for the preparation of a fermented Sceletium product,
`kougoed', was carried out it was found that levels, as well as
the ratios, of the three alkaloids changed markedly. Substantial
increases in total alkaloid levels were observed when the Sceletium
material was crushed and bruised prior to drying for alkaloid
extraction whereas no such changes occured when intact plants
were oven dried at 80°C prior to alkaloid extraction. It is
speculated that of the many potentially usable Mesembryanthemaceae
plants available to the indigenous peoples, Sceletium was selected
because it is the only genus with alkaloid levels high enough
to! eli cit a psychoactive response. The traditional preparation
technique also appears to have evolved as a method of producing
a dry, stable, and relatively palatable preparation of increased
pharmacological activity.